Please Flag this under: Hilarity... Countrywide Loss Mit uses ZILLOW

I was on the phone with a mitigator at Countrywide, discussing 2 of the listings I have that they are the lender on. I was trying to be sly and find out what the BPO had come in at (they wouldn't tell me, so I was trying to ask different hi/low questions to get a hint.) and get a guage on how acceptable the offers I had submitted were.

I was just about to give up when he said: "We use Zillow to value homes, how is your offer compared to Zillow?"

I couldn't control myself, Bad Andy had taken over and blurted out: "You've go to be kidding!"

oops, remove foot from mouth and try to regain control of the conversation...

I pulled zillow.com really quick and told him that Zillow was way off... it said the value was over $300,000, and I've had the houses on the market for almost 6 months, starting at 279, then 269, then 259, and then 239. Since day one I've been getting offers between 180-220.

$300,000 my butt!

This is the intelligence level of the people we're up against! If someone at Countrywide would sit down and compare 10, yes, just 10 of their recently sold REO properties to what Zillow SAID they were worth, they'd probably see that Zillow is nowhere close to reality.

Andy's Billion $ bank bailout:

According to RealtyTrac.com, in the month of February there were 290,631 foreclosure filings in the US.

If a lender rep pulled a Zillow on each of them, they spent over $363,000 in February alone...here's how:

Hey Countrywide, if you (or any other lenders) are reading this... What buyers are willing to pay in the open market is the value of the house! We just want to make your job easier and not have the buyer, seller, you, and I wasting a bunch of time! (by the way, we've had this FULL FILE in at countrywide since December 2nd! Still no answer!)

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Andy

p.s. Seriously, hit the little red flag by the "comments" section and flag this under "hilarity", I know it's not really funny, but "imbecility" was not a category to choose from!

My Countrywide short is coming up on a year now. The value of the house hasn't been the problem, though. They just keep asking me to re-send documents I've already sent. How about we all share with each other which banks are easy to work with, and we can stop wasting our time on the others?

Whoo Hooo! I've been saying that Zillow is most always wrong since the first day I heard about their existence. It breaks me up when I hear a buyer or seller quote their statistics. I go there and check them out once and a while after I have done a complete CMA, so I KNOW they are wrong! There will never be a replacement for a boots on the ground Realtor. I salute all you hardworking brokers. This too shall pass.

I want to stick needles in my eyes when a seller says "Well, on Zillow..." They may be okay for a cookie cutter tract home with average ammenities, they're just throwing numbers at the wall.

My own home didn't even exist on Zillow until last year! And by the way, it was built in 1990- you'd think they had their records up to date before then. Another rental we own is consistently valued at 25 -30% over what it should be.

I had several offers where the lender told me their BPOs came way higher than the market value of the home. I kept assuming the bank was using either agents that are not familiar with Chicago area or new agents in the business.

I always have to send them my own CMAs and work with them to convince them which of the prices is closer to the real value.

WOW Andy, I can hardly believe my eyes! I can't fathom the idea that Countrywide actually thinks Zillow is the best way to determine the market value of their pre-foreclosures... that's absolutely ludicrous!

I had two short sales submitted and got denied by BofA the very next day as they thought the value should be X dollars. I asked how they got that number without a BPO and they said that they couldn't tell me. I am guessing Zillow.com now!

I knew it!! This makes perfect sense if you've done any Countrywide/BOA short sales! I have attempted about 10 over the past year and a half, and only 2 have closed. The others were flat rejected before they would even look at the file to review a repair estimate or any other pertinate documentation, much less order a BPO to see a more accurate view. RIDICULOUS!

Nothing countrywide does surprises me anymore. I've had 16 deals with them and my closing ratio is one fourth what it is with other companies. I no longer do business with them to the point of turning down listings and telling the people to save their money for about a year before they'll finally be foreclosed.

What banks are doing absolutely amaze me. They are so disconnected from the real Reat Estate market it is a wonder anything gets closed. Zillow is so far off base both high and low that is should not even be a factor in the process. Why do we need AMC for appraisals now save the buyer money and just pull up Zillow.....incredible!

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